September 4, 2013 - marked the beginning of a very dark time for Romania's homeless animals. Following the tragic death of little Ionut, a four-year-old boy who was killed by dogs after he entered a private, fenced land, Romanian President, Traian Basescu, urged the Government to elaborate an emergency ordinance that ALL dogs be killed.

But by applying the same methods of dog mass murder that have been conducted in Romania for 20 years and which did not solve the problem the risk will remain permanent. Countless animals will have died in vain because nothing will have changed.

The only proven and humane method of stray animals population control is the sterilization and return of the gentle and healthy stray dogs, compulsorily accompanied by the sterilization of dogs with owners that are the main source of street dogs by mass abandoning. Approximately 5 million puppies are born in Romania in rural areas every year, some of them being killed by their owners and the others being abandoned in the streets and the woods, and as long as the dogs with owners will not be sterilized, through coherent programs, Romania's streets will never be free of dogs.

Since the tragic accident, all Romanian televisions and newspapers are continuously talking about this tragedy. They do shows, tell stories, interview people who feel disturbed by dogs, they show false statistics, they distort the reality, and they inflame the entire population.

The first dogs that will have to pay are the ones that are already incarcerated in the public shelters - those who are vaccinated, sterilized and that constitute no danger to the public...

The mayoress of Craiova, Lia Olguta Aliescu, who hates dogs and who is well known for allowing horrible suffering to go on in the local public shelter over which she has the responsibility, did not waste any time and was the first Romanian mayor to announce that she had ordered the killing of all dogs in their local shelter. The killing of the more or less 500 unfortunate souls have started today, September 4, 2013. The next unfortunate souls will probably the dogs at the public shelter in Râmnicu Vâlcea.

Next week, it's the turn of the dogs in Bucharest's public shelters. Followed by those on the streets. Razvan BANCESCU, head of the Authority for Supervision and Protection of Animals (ASPA) said that a lot more dogs will be taken from the streets, the aggressive ones - or better said: deemed aggressive - will be killed immediately and the others will be thrown in one of their shelters. The number of shelters in the capital will be increased from actually 8, to 50. And given that one shelter has only a capacity of more or less 160 dogs, and considering that there are around 60.000 stray dogs in the capital alone, those for whom there will be no place, will also be killed.Those who will not be killed immediately, will be killed if not adopted within a few days. In fact, ALL will the killed, some sooner, others a bit later.

The fate of the 13,000 homeless dogs of Timisoara is also already determined: mayor Nicolae Robu did not waste any time to sentence them all to death!

For the unfortunate animals who have the misfortune to enter such a public shelter, or publicly financed animal shelter, of which most are nothing less than illegal extermination camps run by untrained, poorly educated, underpaid and cruel shelter workers, and where they are being left to starve or to freeze to death, where they die of the consequences of diseases and injuries (often inflicted during the catching) and left without veterinary care, death will come as a welcome relief... because there are many things worse than death. But sadly, very sadly, death won't come swiftly. And it won't be fear nor painless...

In addition to the mass killings happening right now in public shelters, the angry, murderous populace has got a free ticket to kill and dogs and cats are being bludgeoned, shot and poisoned in villages and towns all over Romania. Pregnant bitches, little puppies and socialized. gentle dogs, none are being spared!

While crying out for revenge over the tragic death of little Ionut, they kill dogs and cats right in front of the children that they claim they are wanting to protect, not knowing that the uncontrolled exposure of children to uncontrolled animal abuse has serious ramifications on the psychological health of these children resulting in a serious psychological disturbance.

By signing our petition, the message that you can read below will instantly be sent

To: Traian Basescu, the President of Romania Different Romanian Government Officials

With copy to: The European Parliament The European Commission The Council of Europe The European Parliament's Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals

Thank you very much, in advance, for your signature on this petition, and please, check also all other OFA-petitions on the same sad topic:

European Parliament's Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of AnimalsMr Andrea Zanoni

STOP mass killing dogs! Adopt mass sterilization!

Mr President, Dear Romanian Government Officials,

we have learned of your intention to kill all homeless dogs following the tragic death of the little boy, Ionut.

We deeply regret the tragedy that happened to the little boy who had, apparently, be killed by dogs and we are sorry that we have to tell you that your action is due since too long! You are the ones to blame in case of incidents with stray dogs in which citizens come to damage, and not the abandoned, homeless dogs who find themselves on your streets with no fault of their own. But if you insist in applying the same methods of dog mass murder that have been conducted in Romania for 20 years and which did not solve the problem, the risk will remain permanent. Countless animals will have died in vain because nothing will have changed.

Your plans are not only contrary to the recommendations of the WHO (World Health Organisation) that states that TNR (trap-neuter-release) is the only proven method to control and reduce stray animal populations, but your intentions are also wrong on a number of levels including those moral and legal. They contradict your own Constitutional Court's Decision 1/2012 (that euthanasia is ILLEGAL as a stray dogs management method until all other solutions have been applied properly, uniformly and with responsibility by local authorities); European Animal Rights Conventions and any adequate humans moral principles!

Please, allow us to remind you that:

On 6th of August, 2004, your country has ratified the European Council's Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals which makes it a binding obligation to take (adequate) measures in this field.

The Treaty of Rome, signed in 1957, established the European Economic Community; the Treaty is the legal base which is periodically revised to take account of institutional and policy changes within the European Union. The Treaty of Rome did not include a reference to animal welfare but in 1992 a declaration on animal welfare was annexed to the revised Treaty of Maastricht. A further revision resulted in the Treaty of Amsterdam which, included a protocol on animal welfare requiring EU policy-makers to pay "full regard" to animal welfare when adopting legislation in a number of policy areas. The Treaty of Amsterdam became effective on 1 May 1999. In 2009 the text of the protocol was incorporated in the text of the Lisbon Treaty, as Article 13, which includes additional policy areas.

In addition to these, the European Parliament Written Declaration 0026/2011, adopted October 13, 2011, were initiated to further consolidate a concrete and lasting protocol for the humane treatment of animals by Union Member States. Romania being a member state whose MEPs have signed Written Declaration 0026/2011 in promoting humane treatment of animals including their population control is therefore legally bound by its statutes.

on 4th of July, 2012 the European Parliament Resolution on the establishment of an EU legal framework for the protection of pets and stray animals ( 2012/2670 (RSP) has been adopted by the European Parliament

Romania being a member state of the European Union since January 1, 2007 and a signatory of the European Council's Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals since 2004, your country MUST respect the signed treaties and conventions, and thus has clear obligations in terms of animal welfare and stray animal population control.

We urge you to immediately stop the killings that are already going on in numerous Romanian villages and cities and to start a massive Catch-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return program in Bucharest and all other Romanian municipalities. The only proven and humane method of stray animals population control is the sterilization and return of the gentle and healthy stray dogs, compulsorily accompanied by the sterilization of dogs with owners that are the main source of street dogs by mass abandoning. Approximately 5 million puppies are born in Romania in rural areas every year, some of them being killed by their owners and the others being abandoned in the streets and the woods, and as long as the dogs with owners will not be sterilized, through coherent programs, Romania's streets will never be free of dogs.

Please, be advised that if the killing of dogs continue we will show to the entire world the reality of the dog camps; we will notify worldwide about the financial interests behind the business of killing dogs; we will withdraw any support that we have given so far to your country; we will boycott Romanian products and tourism, as no one will want to associate with a corrupt, cruel and immoral country.